Steve Spurrier Casts Stones At Nick Saban, Again

Steve Spurrier has rattled the big dog’s cage once again by calling out Nick Saban.

In a recent piece by GoGamecocks, Spurrier had some supposedly clever passive-aggressive comments about the SEC’s top coach:

"If he worked longer hours “would we be 12-1 instead of 11-2? Oh, you’re kidding,” Spurrier said. “I haven’t heard anybody say that really, but if you wanted to, you can find faults with anybody if they don’t win them all.“How many SECs has (Saban) won there in eight years? He’s won two. He’s won three nationals, but he’s only won two SECs in eight years. Now, if you had the No. 1 recruiting class every year and so forth, I don’t know if he has maxed out potentially as well as he could.”"

This isn’t the first time Spurrier has gotten his name in the paper at the expense of Saban. As Alabama fans, we’re apparently supposed to get riled up once again by yet another troll job by the Ol’ Ball Coach. But this time, it’s hard to muster up any righteous indignation.

Spurrier subscribes to the Kim Kardashian school of personal branding: Make sure the camera pays attention to what you say, or what you’re wearing, or who you’re being seen with, and it won’t really matter much what you actually do.

And what has Spurrier actually done at South Carolina?

Well, we know he’s worked on his golf game. That’s usually the lead of any story about Spurrier; the fact that somehow he manages to get off the links long enough to hold a football practice or two.

He’s also compiled a pretty good record (77-39) with the Gamecocks. He’s been to one SEC Championship game (which the ‘Cocks lost), and not really been anywhere near the national championship in his time there.

Saban, meanwhile, has won “only” two SEC titles, plus three national titles, which is two more than Spurrier. He’s put 37 players in the NFL in the last five years. And he’s won only three fewer games than Spurrier in three fewer years.

Maybe working late into the evening does pay off.

Look, we get it, Steve. You’re sort of coasting on your reputation into a very gradual retirement. South Carolina fans are ecstatic about ten-win seasons with no hint of a trophy at the end of them. You’re getting paid big bucks to smirk on the sidelines and give sportwriters in Columbia clever copy. We’d do the exact same thing in your place.

But you really should fight in your weight class. While it’s tempting to yank the chain of the top dog in the game, you probably should stick to the Dawg in your own yard.

South Carolina has beaten SEC East rival Georgia four times in Spurrier’s ten seasons. The Bulldogs are entering their 14th year of rebuilding under head coach Mark Richt, so you’d think that if Spurrier clocked out at, say, 6pm instead of 3:30, they might eke out another win once in a while.

But hey, that projecting your stuff onto Nick Saban thing; that’s good too.